More light shed on 'China's tougher tactics'

Since CPJ
blogged on Monday that tougher tactics are emerging in China toward local
and foreign media--and the situation looks to get worse--a few more developments
have arisen.

On Tuesday, the Foreign Correspondents' Club of China issued
an email statement that it "strongly regrets" the forced
departure from China of New York
Times correspondent Austin
Ramzy because of delays in his journalistic accreditation. The FCCC called
the government's claims that the reporter had not complied with visa
regulations "disingenuous."

"Ramzy is the third New York Times
journalist not to have been given journalistic accreditation or a resident
journalist visa in 18 months. In these circumstances it is difficult to avoid
the conclusion that the authorities are punishing TheNew York Times for
articles it published concerning [former] Premier Wen Jiabao and his family.
Such behavior falls well short of international standards," the FCCC pointed
out in its message.

Meanwhile, our colleagues at the International Federation of
Journalists on Tuesday used the Foreign Correspondents' Club in Hong Kong to launch
its 2013 Annual Report on Press Freedom in China and Hong Kong. This, the sixth
edition of the report, is entitled "Back to a Maoist Future: Press Freedom in
China 2013." Enough said. (The English version is here,
the traditional Chinese character version is here,
and the simplified character version is here.
IFJ also has posted a useful Press Freedom Violations in China interactive
map.)

And in Monday's post we mentioned that Hong Kong publisher
Yao Wentian, 73, was grabbed in Shenzhen, just across the border from Hong Kong,
in October, but the situation only recently came to light. China Digital Times has a roundup of
the details of Yao's case, which are somewhat murky.

Bob Dietz, coordinator of CPJ’s Asia Program, has reported across the continent for news outlets such as CNN and Asiaweek. He has led numerous CPJ missions, including ones to Afghanistan, Pakistan, the Philippines, and Sri Lanka. Follow him on Twitter @cpjasia and Facebook @ CPJ Asia Desk.